Pakistani rescuers resumed a major search operation on Broad Peak on Saturday as elite Nepali climbers joined efforts to locate renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja and others still missing after a devastating avalanche swept across the Karakoram peak.

The search restarted early Saturday with high-altitude workers and rescue teams, while helicopters again to survey the avalanche zone from the air, according to Gilgit-Baltistan Police.

The avalanche struck below Lower Camp III, at around 6,600 metres, on Thursday, engulfing a 10-member international climbing team led by Nirmal Purja, the celebrated Nepali mountaineer widely known as Nimsdai.

Rescue teams have since recovered two bodies and a limb from the avalanche debris, but authorities have yet to release a complete official casualty list or confirm the identities of everyone involved.

Officials said the body of Omani climber Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, recovered from the mountain on Friday, was flown from Skardu to Islamabad on Saturday before being repatriated. The body of Nepali mountain guide Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as "Yukta", remains in Skardu.

A severed limb recovered from the avalanche site is believed to belong to American climber Sarah Mallory Geis

The operation received a boost with the arrival of renowned Nepali climber Mingma David Sherpa, who travelled from Nepal to Pakistan to assist in the search for Purja and the remaining missing climbers.

Another veteran Nepali mountaineer involved in the operation, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, said his team had located all of the victims except one Pakistani climber. Pakistani authorities, however, have not confirmed that assessment.

"Our helicopter pilots have not seen any bodies during today's aerial search," Irfan Arshad Khan, president of Alpine Club of Pakistan told Everest Chronicle, after Friday search, indicating that ground teams continued to face the difficult task of searching through deep avalanche debris.

Nepali guides who cancelled their K2 expedition voluntarily joined Pakistani rescuers and high-altitude workers in recovery efforts at the mountain's upper camps.

Broad Peak, at 8,047 metres, is the world's 12th-highest mountain and lies in Pakistan's Karakoram range, close to K2.

The avalanche is among the deadliest mountaineering disasters in Pakistan in recent years and has sent shockwaves through the international climbing community.

Purja, a former British soldier and one of the world's most accomplished high-altitude climbers, is best known for climbing all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks in just over six months in 2019, shattering the previous speed record.

In 2021, he led the first team to complete a winter ascent of K2, the world's second-highest mountain, with a group of 10 Nepali climbers. Before stepping onto the summit, the team paused to gather together and sing Nepal's national anthem, a moment widely seen as highlighting the role of Nepali mountaineers in Himalayan climbing.

Purja has since set at least 18 mountaineering world records recognised by Guinness World Records, cementing his reputation as one of the sport's most influential figures.